Not too long ago, MSN posted an article entitled, “The new rule for romance,” by Jennifer Derryberry Mann. It starts this way: “What is the essence of a successful, spiritual union? After more than 25 years counseling singles and couples on how to have better relationships, Susan Page has the answer for those of us looking for love. She sums it up as “less talk, more action.” In her new book, Why Talking Isn’t Enough: Eight Loving Actions that Will Transform Your Marriage, Page shares her plan for couples, but she also has plenty of advice for single folk.”
Poor woman. It took her 25 years of hard work to figure out what God expresses everywhere throughout Scripture, that love isn’t a mushy emotion, complete with dreamy couples running toward each other in slow-motion through fields of brilliant flowers or jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch like a lunatic, screaming, “I love this woman!” It’s an act of the will. It’s the determination to do good to someone even when he/she doesn’t deserve it or appreciate it like he/she should.
Think about it. “God so loved the world that he gave…” “God demonstrates his own love for us in this…” “love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into this world that we might live through him.” God gave, demonstrated, showed, protected, persevered.
If God’s love were an emotion, I would be hopeless right now. If He had to see all that He sees in my life; if He had to get all of the grief that He often gets from me when I complain and whine and mistreat His children and His creation; if he had to put up with my lack of maturity after all this time and judge me on his emotions, I would be in a world of trouble.
But God’s love for me isn’t an emotion. It’s an act of the will. He surely wasn’t crazy about the prospect of dying for people who hated him or who would never really appreciate what he had done. He surely wasn’t crazy about the idea of agony and hell, but he was determined to take the punishment for our sin anyway. That’s true love: less talk, more action.
And it’s that love that affects our marriages, our parenting, our friendships.
God bless you in his love today.
Not too long ago, MSN posted an article entitled, “The new rule for romance,” by Jennifer Derryberry Mann. It starts this way: “What is the essence of a successful, spiritual union? After more than 25 years counseling singles and couples on how to have better relationships, Susan Page has the answer for those of us looking for love. She sums it up as “less talk, more action.” In her new book, Why Talking Isn’t Enough: Eight Loving Actions that Will Transform Your Marriage, Page shares her plan for couples, but she also has plenty of advice for single folk.”
Poor woman. It took her 25 years of hard work to figure out what God expresses everywhere throughout Scripture, that love isn’t a mushy emotion, complete with dreamy couples running toward each other in slow-motion through fields of brilliant flowers or jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch like a lunatic, screaming, “I love this woman!” It’s an act of the will. It’s the determination to do good to someone even when he/she doesn’t deserve it or appreciate it like he/she should.
Think about it. “God so loved the world that he gave…” “God demonstrates his own love for us in this…” “love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into this world that we might live through him.” God gave, demonstrated, showed, protected, persevered.
If God’s love were an emotion, I would be hopeless right now. If He had to see all that He sees in my life; if He had to get all of the grief that He often gets from me when I complain and whine and mistreat His children and His creation; if he had to put up with my lack of maturity after all this time and judge me on his emotions, I would be in a world of trouble.
But God’s love for me isn’t an emotion. It’s an act of the will. He surely wasn’t crazy about the prospect of dying for people who hated him or who would never really appreciate what he had done. He surely wasn’t crazy about the idea of agony and hell, but he was determined to take the punishment for our sin anyway. That’s true love: less talk, more action.
And it’s that love that affects our marriages, our parenting, our friendships.
God bless you in his love today.
